


The Dream

by Slayer_Of_Thots



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: Hornet is also tsundere, Hornet is nice, More characters to come, Quirrel is precious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-04 06:17:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20466404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slayer_Of_Thots/pseuds/Slayer_Of_Thots
Summary: A dream is said to be something which can predict the future, as if your own mind has predicted a tradgedy. Hornet has had a dream, and she didnt like it.





	1. Nightmare

Hornet felt the void tendrils burning through her shell as she lay of the cold stone bricks of the forgotten crossroads, accepting her premature death. Her eyes closed as the pain caused her to faint, thankfully making the burning pain cease. When her eyes next open she saw nothing in front of her, vision filled with a pitch-black darkness.

_Is this death?_ She ponders to herself as she lay still. The cold stone once beneath her now replaced with what seemed to be silk. As she slowly sits up, she attempts to see through the complete darkness, her eyes finding small rays of lights coming from a small distance away. She attempts to stand finding herself hindered by burning over much of her body, the pain fades, allowing her to stand and slowly walk towards the light, still feeling a slight burn where the void had touched her within her dream. Reaching the rays of light, she realises they are coming through cracks in a door, her mind coming to, Hornet slowly opens the door, expecting the void to jump out…__  
But that doesn’t happen, she steps outside the door, realising she is just in her temporary residence within the distant village. Breathing a sigh of relief, she closes the door, returning to her house to prepare for the day, discarding her sleeping attire she goes to retrieve her cloak when she notices discolouration on the shell of her arm, she touches it gently finding the sensation similar to a burn scar from her brief encounters with the infection. Brushing it off as a reaction to some meat she did not entirely drain of the infection, she picks up her cloak and dons it quickly before grabbing her needle and a few spools of thread, ready for a normal day within the remnants of Hallownest.  
Beginning her day with her usual routine, Hornet ventures deep into the winding tunnels of Deepnest searching for the simple minded dirtcarvers which made up most of her diet, after the infection within non Deepnest areas of Hallownest got too intense for her to easily remove the infection from the meat, she was forced to hunt within her own back garden, the creatures of Deepnest seemed to have a naturally higher tolerance for disease and this appeared to also apply to the physiological affliction many bugs had fallen to, which made the extraction of the toxic substance much easier with her limited tools. She did not like to use the creatures native to her kingdom as a food supply, but luckily for her state of mind the dirtcarvers she regularly hunted had almost always been simple creatures, even before the infection came over them.  
As her needle pierced the thin shell covering the head of the dirtcarver, killing it instantly thankfully, Hornet’s mind wonders, pondering about the dream she had last night, she thinks about it for much of the time is hunting, causing a few mistakes with the aim of her needle. 

_ _ _Did it mean something?_ She thinks to herself, her mind working to try and remember more of what happened, coming up with nothing she huffs to herself as she tries to stop thinking about it, focusing on obtaining a supply of food to give to the few sane residents of Deepnest still residing inside. Only the strongest willed were able to fight off the infection which comes in your dreams, Hornet herself was likely only still sane thanks to the pale blood running through her veins, though she did not believe this theory with complete certainty as she had seen many others who also have some form of higher blood inside of them and succumb to the infection, she had also seen those with no such blood able to resist the infection at will, mainly the mantis tribe, though there were others who were safe. __ _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _

__ __ _ _Hornet did not contact many others, she was the protector of Hallownest not the gossiper. There were few bugs she spoke with regularly, finding the isolation of the distant village to be calming, one of the bugs she had regular conversations, even if one sided, was Midwife, it was almost always when Hornet was giving her food to keep her hunger quenched, she had seen Midwife starved once before, early in her life when the spider meant to deliver her food had forgotten, Herrah made sure that didn’t happen again. The conversations with Midwife were short and never very interesting to Hornet, mostly consisting of Midwife reminiscing on Hornets childhood, Hornet would likely feel some form of nostalgia if it weren’t for the fact she had to be cold most of the time, she did secretly enjoy the visits to Midwife however, and she doubted that Midwife cared much for Hornets stoic silence as she has dealt with many others who would not hold a conversation, it came with her previous occupation.  
Quickly she delivered the infection free meat to the few people of Deepnest she came to the weavers den, finding the lone weaver who vowed to remain as a homage to Herrah after the weavers decided they would not last long within the infected Deepnest due to their lacklustre strength, though the remaining weaver appeared to also be able to resist the infection, likely due to some form of weaved spell, Hornet had asked but all the weaver replied was that it would not work on the other bugs of Deepnest, Hornet theorised it was some form of dreamcatcher which prevented the infection from being able to enter the weavers dreams. The lone weaver’s sole purpose as of the time being was fixing Hornets cloak whenever there was damage to it, Hornet occasionally found herself making small cuts on her cloak so that she would be able to talk with the weaver more without seeming needy. The weavers were always knowledgeable, though the remaining weaver appeared to be an elder as they seemed to hold much more knowledge than the other weavers Hornet had spoken to, that may just be because she wasn’t old enough to ask questions which tested intelligence when there had been other weavers.  
After her usual route of delivering food, including the small talk with Midwife, Hornet returned to her small residence, she still found herself unable to forget the dream, though as she went on with her tasks she found herself remembering small details, mainly that she was outside the black egg temple her half sibling is trapped within, she found herself discarding the importance of that snippet of information, occupying herself with her needle as she tended to it, cleaning off any dirt and running over it with a specialised cleaning cloth, what she found however was something she always dreaded finding, a small chip on the edge of the blade. She hated it when she damaged her needle, it meant going to him, she didn’t like him, he made her uncomfortable, she didn’t know why, he was polite and never seemed to mean offence, but Hornet found him unbearable, the way he spoke about her needle, the way he spoke in general, maybe Hornet was making herself hate him but she didn’t ponder that too long. She figured that a visit to him would have to happen at some point as she didn’t want to keep a large chip within her needle, especially as the infection had been more volatile as of recently, as if it were preparing for an something.   
Hornet put off the visit to the city to repair her needle for now, reasoning she could mix it in with when she decided to deliver the strange artefact to the relic seeker. She decided that before the day was done, she would check on Greenpath. As of recently the infection was getting more dangerous within the moss filled caverns, the infection was seemingly getting more rooted into the vegetation itself, she had seen the spine covered vines getting larger every time she visited, she theorised that the reason the infection was able to get itself deeper into the roots of many of Greenpath’s residents had something to do with the constant weakening of their god, the creature had been losing her influence on the land itself, and now with the infection, her followers held only a small memory of her within their minds._ _

__ __ __ _Threading her needle Hornets mind tried to decipher anything from her dream that may be useful, struggling with the multi-tasking, she found herself frustrated with the thread as she was having difficulty attaching it to her needle with a strong enough knot for her to use in combat. Finding herself unable to tie the knot, and with her rising anger, Hornet decided against using the thread for now, concluding that the bugs of Greenpath could be mostly avoided without need for combat. She left her house quickly opting for a shortcut to the lush green landscape instead of going the more scenic route, she would only be looking around therefore she could afford to use some strength climbing._  
As she entered the land, she could immediately feel the slight burning the acidic air caused on the lungs of bugs not native to the lands, she decided against having a long visit opting for only a few places to look at. The first she chose was the temple on the shore of the lake of Unn, the temple was long abandoned by the mosskin who used it in yesteryears, the shrine having been abandoned with no offerings to the god within the acidic lake. Hornet thought that maybe that’s why the gods strength was wavering, the faith of her followers had faded over years, with a large part being the Wyrm’s introduction to the lands, Greenpath had willingly given their land to the new king, Hornet thought that may have been a bad choice for the bugs now, that was a long time before her birth however, as such she was likely not the best person for discussing the topic.   
Coming to the shore, she saw a lone moss knight looking into the distance of the lake, Hornet decided against disturbing it, her needle was still unthreaded, meaning combat would be quite a bit more difficult. She entered the temple unnoticed, seeing the disrepair the place was in caused her some brief sympathy towards Unn, being mostly abandoned by her people. Not wanting to stay long Hornet quickly left the temple and passed the moss knight again as she continued to the next area she wanted to check.  
Ascending through Greenpath Hornet came to the border between the crossroads and Greenpath, it was a sudden change, the lush green becoming a dull blue, Hornet looked over the border,  
This can’t be right She thinks, the border seems to have moved meters in only weeks, Greenpath moss covering much less of the high caverns, Unn’s influence seems to be fading much faster than she anticipated. Greenpath wasn’t the only place which was dying, much of Hallownest was beginning to fall, the city of tears as an example, it was built to last, but that was when builders were available to make repairs, without them any damage made now would be permanent.  
Shaking off her thoughts Hornet began the decent, however before she returned to Deepnest she decided to check the entry to Greenpath from the crossroads, to check if the receding moss was happening at all areas. The path to the entrance was littered with bugs few of which Hornet was able to avoid, meaning she was forced for fight many of them, sapping a large amount of her energy, she was beginning to regret not using her thread. As she neared the entrance, she saw something which made her stop immediately. 

_ _ _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _A creature she recognised from her dream immediately._ _ _ _


	2. Lucid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im new to dialogue

As Hornet stared at the small vessel her mind raced, she wasn’t one for superstition, as much as you could ignore it in the world she resided in, but déjà vu was one of the small things that she had always had brief brushes with, mostly small things that she could ignore however this was something she didn’t like the idea of ignoring.  
“Hello?”  
Her eyes snap back up  
Had that bug always been there she thought, her gaze boring into both creatures bellow her, she recognised the other bug from somewhere other than her dream  
“do you think she understood?” the bug spoke to the vessel, turning back, beginning  
“Es mas iftar hallo- “  
“Yes, I understood you, bug” she cut him off, glaring at him exclusively now,   
“Ah that’s good then, talking is much easier than signing” he says jovially as he turns to the vessel at his side, “not that I didn’t enjoy our charades friend”  
The vessel at his side seemed satisfied with that answer and turned back towards Hornet, or where she was at least, Her eyes now boring into them from a much smaller distance, standing barely a nails distance from them.  
“you” she spoke with no tone, towards the vessel, yet the bug next to her seemed to get second hand fright as he jumped at the sudden continuation of a conversation. Yet the vessel stood still and stared at Hornet with the empty eyes all vessels shared, though when Hornet investigated them, they only reminded her of the void which burned her within the dream the previous night.  
The small vessel pointed at themselves, as if asking if Hornet was talking to them. Hornet nodded but then realised that there was not much of a conversation that could be continued from only the word ‘you’. Acknowledging this she turned to the bug at the vessels side and squinted at him, as if seeing less of him would allow her to remember where she remembered him.  
“Uh hello?” he said with nervousness within his voice.  
“I recognise you” She says flatly  
“Ah yes, I was the bug you attacked on the border of hallownest”  
“oh, right”  
A silence follows as the vessel looks back and forth at both bugs around them, confused as to the tension in the air currently.  
“Well, I did not know of your importance to this kingdom as of the time” Hornet speaks bluntly  
The explorer’s eyes look towards Hornet expectantly, with a silence falling other the trio.  
“Are you not going to apologise?” He asked  
“For what” Hornet inquired  
“Attacking me?” He states  
“Why would I apologise, my actions were understandable from my perspective” she states  
Realising what he is doing is going to be futile, the bug stops, deciding to try something else with the conversation, deciding first to ask for a name, for the spider, and the vessel she seems to know.  
“what’s your name?” he asks quickly, which seems to startle the spider as she jumps at the break in the silence. She looks at the bug and squints, as if trying to read his mind.  
“Hornet” she slowly says, having not met new people in a while she hasn’t had the exchange of names which she seems to remember dreading so much.  
“I’m Quirrel, and this is … well I was hoping you would know actually” he says motioning to the still stoic vessel next to the bugs.  
“Why would I know their name” Hornet states flatly, as she thinks if she does know their name. She remembered the vessel but only from her dream, she still doesn’t remember much from the dream, most notably where she saw the vessel, she only remembers seeing them.  
“well you seemed to recognise them, so I assumed you’d met before” Quirrel speaks, embarrassed she assumed from his meek tone.  
“well I don’t know their name, because they won’t have a name, unless its self-made” she explains to the curious bug, who is now staring curiously towards the vessel.  
“oh” is all he has to say back, somewhat sombre at his friends lack of a name, well maybe not friend that would be quite a quick escalation of their relationship, they met quite recently, he shouldn’t assume the vessel already likes him, though should that matter in his own consideration of what he thought of the vessel to him, ah he can think about that later.  
“Well we should give them a name” he continues, wanting his fri- acquaintance to at least have a name so that he would not need to keep calling out the word vessel, as there were likely many others somewhere within the kingdom.  
“Why would I do that, you act as if we are all best buds, giving each other nicknames, vessel will be good enough” Hornet argues  
“well what if there are other vessels? Surely somewhere in the rest of this kingdom there will be others and then we will have difficult talking to our one” he fires back with.   
“we will have no difficult talking to him because I’m not going to be traveling within 200 meters of either of you” she exclaims in an attempt to distance herself from the two bugs she has ‘history’ with, as she sees herself becoming tangled within this mess as something which will lead to the event she dreamed of, and that likely will not be good for her health.  
“What? Why?” Quirrel exclaims  
“Because the only interaction I’ve had with you has been attacking you, and the only way I know of this one is because of some dream I had the previous night” she says back, just as loud. As she says that Quirrel’s eyes get wide with shock, as he looks at Hornet with disbelief.  
“You had one too?” he asks suddenly, surprising Hornet immensely as she looks at Quirrel with the same disbelief he showed her.  
“Yes, I had one and I doubt it was the same as yours, explorer” she says back with the same speed. Her own eyes widening as she looks at him.  
“I never said I was an explorer” he states, making Hornet cringe as she realises that this bug did in fact have the same dream as her.  
“So, if we both had the dream, then what about you?” He asks the vessel who at this point was just watching the drama as if a child whose parents were arguing. The vessel shakes its head, no it did not have the dream, meaning that they would have no idea what the two bugs would be talking about if they discussed the dream.  
“Perhaps we are linked in some way then” Quirrel says to Hornet, who turns to look at him  
“I hope it isn’t soul mates, for your sake” is all she must reply before continuing   
“I suppose this means that I should in some way stay connected to you both, though I don’t like the idea of all three of us traversing the remnants of this kingdom, parties attract challengers” she says as she turns away to look behind her at the ledge she once stood on, perhaps a better idea would have been to leave while she had the chance, oh well, she was too deep now.  
“Well then” Quirrel starts, making Hornet turn around to face him.  
“I guess we should name this little guy then” he laughs, either at or with Hornet, though Hornet wasn’t laughing, so it was likely the former.  
“I’m not good with names” she says bluntly, attempting to weasel her way out.  
“that doesn’t matter, just say what they remind you of” he encourages her. Hornet goes silent for a moment, thinking of names for the little vessel who was now sitting down looking back up from the moss they had begun playing with. Many things came to mind though none seemed like they would stick.  
“okay if you’re struggling, I’ll go first” he says as he crouches to be head Hight with the vessel.  
“lessev?” he asks, seemingly at Hornet and the vessel  
“that’s a stupid name, you can’t just use vessel backwards” the lessev seems to agree shaking their head again, no  
“well then, you try” he says back, slightly hurt  
“death” she says while staring deep into the pits the vessel has for eyes  
“that’s a slight bit mean, and probably wouldn’t help in many situations” he scrutinises  
“you said to say what they reminded me of, I did” she says matter of factly, Quirrel understands where she gets that association but decides to ignore it. The vessel also seems to disagree.  
“white”  
“void”  
“horns”  
“pale”  
“black eyes”  
“non-hollow”  
No, no, no, no, no, no. This vessel seemed to be quite fussy about being named, which somewhat aggravated the two bugs trying to name them, as they shouldn’t even be able to like or dislike the name.  
“ugh why are you so picky about your name” Hornet says aggravated as she stands and turns away briefly looking back down at the pair on the floor.  
“are you always this pale, Hornet, you look like you’ve seen a ghost” Quirrel says as he seemingly gives up on trying to name the vessel  
“Yes, I am alwa-!” Hornet begins before being interrupted by the vessel suddenly jumping up and nodding, yes, to what? Quirrel seems to catch on fast as he states  
“we said what you’d like your name to be?” he asks, more confused than Hornet would have preferred. The vessel nods again, which gives relief to both the bugs as the naming game was now over.  
“Pale? Hornet? Ghost?” Quirrel asks quickly, exited to finally have a name for his horned battle ally  
The vessel shakes their head twice before nodding, no no yes. They had a name for them at last.  
“Ghost?” Hornet says sceptically, she wasn’t too sure on the name itself as it wasn’t the best for identifying, however the vessel seems to like it, and if that meant she could go back home and rest she was all for it. The vessel nods yes again.   
“it suits you my friend, good choice” Quirrel says giving Ghost a pat on the head, which the vessel seems to enjoy exponentially. As the three bugs are on their feet the amount of time spent seems to catch up to all three of them as Quirrel almost falls, his legs appearing to have fallen asleep, which he seems to be prone to doing too soon.  
“I think it may be time for rest now, Ghost” he says, the vessels name rolling off the tongue perfectly  
“I agree” Hornet says pushing down a yawn, this was the most contact she has had with any other sentient bugs in a long time, so she was very exhausted to say the least.  
“Will you be coming to Dirtmouth then?” Quirrel says expectantly  
“no, my home is within a different part of the kingdom” she says, making Quirrel’s mood falter for moments before he seemingly gets his energy back.  
“will you be joining us tomorrow, for our adventures as a team have surely only just begun?” he says with quite a bit of hope within his voice. Hope which Hornet desperately wants to squash by declining, though by now her opinion of the explorer/vessel combo had increased from only their small conversation alone. Perhaps there was a link between the two bugs in the end.  
“fine, ill tag along for now” she finds herself accepting the offer of seemingly a team up between the three. She attempts to convince herself that she is only doing it so that she may find out more about the dream, however she finds herself feeling as though she had already spent many hours with both the vessel and the explorer bug.  
“That’s grand, very grand indeed, don’t you agree friend?” he seemingly asks his small friend next to him  
“…” is all the response he gets, though its good enough for him  
“I suppose this is farewell for now then, Hornet, is there any place in which we can meet tomorrow?” he quizzes Hornet, to which she cannot think of a reply, as she does not know where the bugs had explored, going out on a limb with hope she asks  
“do you know of the black egg temple?” she asks hopefully  
“the on within the crossroads? Yes, that is in fact where me and Ghost met” he says back  
“meet there at dawn” she replies, back to her quick responses  
“we’ll be there, farewell for now” he says as the two parties turn away and begin their departure  
“be safe” Hornet shouts as the groups get out of speaking distance, immediately regretting the decision as they turn back and wave towards her. 

She didn’t like that she liked them


End file.
